From:
"Lynn Mac Farlane"
Date: 2004-05-31 17:41:15 UTC
Subject: Reply to Dr. Sue about Cody's pain when peeing
To: "Ferret Health List" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Cc: <suedvm96@hotmail.com>
Message-ID: <LPBBLMGAINDPLIFEALMAIEOBGCAA.gypsi@atlantic.net>
Dear Dr. Sue thank you for replying.
The only medicine Cody has has for pain is Torb, which the 1st vet he saw
gave him after I requested it. It didn't help even when I doubled the
dosage trying to find a level that would help him. Cody has Insulinoma so
is on pred twice a day.
The vet told me that he went over everything inside Cody with a fine toothed
comb to make sure all that was wrong was the spleen & so he wouldn't have a
reason to have to go back in. He said all of his organs were in good shape
considering Cody's age which is 6-7. Cody had his left adrenal & 2/3rd of
his right removed a few years ago, the 1/3rd of the right being around the
vena cava. The vet said what was left of that gland had healed good &
hadn't grown at all. He did say that he saw 2 lymph like glands that looked
a little darker in color than they should have been so he did a biopsy &
that came back normal. The results were that they were not lymph nodes but
they were "Pieces of adipose tissue with marked central necrosis with
accumulations of granular protein, debris and hemorrhage. This is
surrounded by a thin fibrous capsule in which there is active fibroplasia
and moderate infiltrates of hypertrophied and lipid vacuolated macrophages
and lesser numbers of neutrophils. There is no evident organisms or
neoplastic cells."
Microscopic Findings are: Chronic active necrotizing pyogranulomatous
pertiontis mesenteric adipose tissue with encapsulation.
Comment: "These necrotic proliferative inflammatory lesions are common in
many species and I see them occasionally in ferrets. It is generally
accepted to be due to strangulation/torsion of mesenteric adipose tissue
with subsequent necrosis and organization. I see no evidence of neoplasia".
As far as his prostate goes, it is my understanding that if the prostate is
swollen/enlarged that a male ferret will strain to pee & will dribble more
that just void like a normal ferret. When Cody pees he doesn't strain & he
pees a lot. A really good sized puddle & he always has. The only thing
different is that he cries/whimpers now when he does it. This started when
his spleen got really enlarged. It was just enlarged & he was sent to 2
different vets who just dismissed him as having a large spleen. When his
tummy looked a lot bigger & was hard & I couldn't find the spleen is when he
was sent back to one of the vets. That was when he was whimpering in his
sleep & most of all when he peed. She took an x-ray & said that his spleen
was now so enlarged that it was blocking all of the other organs from view.
She is very conservative so was hesitating on going in to remove it. She
did have a Superchem CBC done on him, results came back normal for a ferret
of his age & of having adrenal surgery. She gave him the pain medication.
That is when I was told of a vet in this are that was a good ferret vet, so
I took him there for a second opinion because of all the pain he was in. I
knew the spleen either had to come out or he had to be put to sleep. The
doctor opted to try the surgery. Afterwards he said the spleen was so big
it could have come from a 30 pound animal. It had been pressing on all of
his other organs.
Cody healed up good at the incision site & by now should not be still having
pain. And that is the problem ....he is. I don't feel the vet did anything
wrong, I think he did a great job with the surgery. He didn't think Cody
was going to come through it so good. The only thing I have a problem with
him is over Cody's continued pain. When he took the staples out, they had
grown in some & they were hard to remove, it was hurting Cody to have them
removed. He was whimpering/crying & I mentioned that was about how he
sounded when he peed & the vet said that he wasn't crying, that he wasn't in
pain. Well, Cody was in so much of it he tried to bite anything that he
could reach & he lost control of his bowels & bladder so I don't think he
was dooking.
What is more he seems weaker than he was before the surgery & that is
another worry. If he was recovering normally, even if he was still suppose
to take a long time doing so & the pain was part of it, he should be
improving in all other ways right? He should be even a tad more frisky than
he was before the surgery, not weaker.
Btw--his poop is quite liquid, I call it "puddle poop", but he has been like
that a long time. I had meant to ask the vet to do a biopsy & send it off
to be tested for IBD but forgot. It is normally dark brown in color &
doesn't smell good. I have had it tested & the vet said that there wasn't
any blood in it. One vet said that he had a lot of Clostridium in it. I
wrote the FML after looking it up & seeing that it didn't fit & Dr. Williams
wrote back that ferrets very seldom have Clostridium in their bowels & I am
sorry I don't remember exactly what else, but he suspected that Cody didn't
have Clostridium. Cody doesn't whimper when he has a bowel movement btw.
Now that he is eating mainly chicken soup I don't expect his poop to firm
up, I was thinking maybe he should have some fiber added to the soup but
don't know what.
I am limited to vets that see ferrets in this area. Three are about 2 hours
away & one of them I will no longer go to. I have faith that the vet that
did the surgery on Cody knows what he is doing, it is just that I feel he
isn't really listening to me, believing that Cody is recovering normally & I
am just being overly worried.
Sincerely,
Lynn & Clan War Weasels